07/30/03 Hiking Silver Lake Trail (11 miles round trip):
This trail is really only 3 miles round trip but you currently have to walk 4 miles to Monte Cristo because the Monte Cristo Road has been closed because of a flood 25 years ago. This is a pleasant walk with large peaks, slopes and ridges looming up to keep your eyeballs occupied. Monte Cristo is an old mining town apparently abandoned in the 1920's-1940's.
I passed the Glacier Basin Trailhead past the Monte Cristo cabins on the way to the Silver Lake Trailhead. Sunday Falls seemed to be about dried up but 76 Creek had a nice cascading falls. The trail starts off at about 2800 feet and the first mile is fairly easy. Some good views of nearby adjacent peaks. The last 1/2 mile or so does get steeper
Silver Lake, at 4300 feet, is 4-5 acres backed by 800-900 foot cliffs. 900 foot slopes to the right taper down to 500 feet or so. To the left is a 700 foot saddle. The guide book said great views can be had from there and they're right. The peaks seen on the way up are presented with no obstructions to block the vista. I could see many more peaks and mountain ranges in the other direction too. It will take younger legs than mine to go exploring after that climb to 5000 feet though.
The Twin Lakes Trail junction is nearby but that is too much for me. That would be a couple miles plus 2000 feet in and another 1000 feet back out again. Not in this lifetime.
08/01/03 Hiking Glacier Basin Trail (14 miles round trip):
Like the Silver Lake Trail (above), this trail requires you walk in 4 miles on the Monte Cristo Road and pick up the trailhead at Monte Cristo at 2850 feet. The beginning of the trail is a little steep as it passes through the non-existent downtown area of Monte Cristo. Nothing there now except signs saying where things used to be.
A moderate 1 mile climb leads to Glacier Falls dropping 200 feet or so in a couple of stages. Nice and cool with the glacial waters spraying off the falls. About the time the falls disappear through the brush, the trail turns upwards. The next mile is pretty steep with more scrambling than hiking over narrow slick rock ledges.
You enter the Jackson Wilderness at 3700 feet. Deep snow patches appear at 4100 feet. A glacier runoff runs under the patch creating, on this day, 3 snow caves. Then a snow covered peak appears dead ahead. Other steep, ragged peaks also appear rising up another 1000 feet in a half circle forming a basin. Avalanches cascade down off the steep peaks into the basin causing it to fill with much snow that was far from being melted in early August.
Abandoned gold mining operations even way up here. How old does trash have to be before they become artifacts. I think the trail continued another 1 mile or so but I didn't have any overwhelming need to continue past the mining area.
08/03./03 Hiking Sunrise Mine Trail/Headleee Pass (5 miles round trip):
This is a steep trail starting at 2250 feet. I started off and the trail turned downwards for 1/4 mile or so. Oh, no! I'll have to climb back up this hill at the end of the hike when I have no legs left. It did turn upwards after passing a couple of small waterfalls.
Good views of cloudy peaks way above. Switchbacks are steep, winding back and forth along a bushy slope. A mile or so the trail eases a little as it goes through some trees and then there is Headlee Pass up ahead. Short, jagged bluffs sit on top of rocky or partially forested slopes and on top of a cliff a couple hundred feet high.
Lots of ripe blueberries, raspberries and huckleberries. Wish I had something to put them in. 3200 feet seemed to be about halfway there. After an all to short level stretch the trail turns steeper again. It passes through a stand of trees, then a boulder field, another stand of trees and another boulder field.
I ran out of steam at the second boulder field. I had 2-3 switchbacks to the bottom of the bluffs. I watched an old(er than me) man slowly make his way past me and disappear into the bluffs somewhere. I have no competitive juices anymore and just let him go.
Passed many climbers on the way down. They do this trail simply to get access to some of the nearby peaks. Everyone was carrying ice axes and heading for Vesper Peak.
08/04/03 Hiking (Elliot River) Goat Lake Trail (9 miles round trip):
Trail starts out at 2000 feet and ends up at Goat Lake at 3150 feet. There is an Upper and Lower Elliot River Trail that merge to form the Goat Lake Trail. I took the lower trail out and back, mainly because a comment on the trail register said it was the better of the two. If you want to do a loop take the Lower Elliot River Trail out. You can see more of it as you follow it upstream.
A couple of switchbacks take you from the trailhead down to the Elliot River. Almost the entire time the trail follows the river there are tumbling rapids and small, cascading falls. The trail swings away from the rivers at about 1.5 miles though and continues thru the forest about another 1.5 miles. Shortly after merging with the Upper Elliot Trail it swings back to the river.
At that point the trail turns upwards for much of the 1100 foot elevation gain on this trail. At the top is Goat Lake, a very pretty 10 acres of water nestled at the bottom of a peak rising many hundreds of feet. A large amount of snow remained here in early August and, what I consider to be a glacier.
On the way back down I stopped off at the waterfalls dropping out of the lake. For my first view I simply picked a likely looking area and walked over to the river. The next view came at an apparent side trail off the next switchback. Great sheets of water tumbled down jagged rocks and ledges and then split into two falls around an outcrop in the middle.
The final view I had was at the next switchback. Here I stepped over a couple of branches indicating this was not the trail. I followed an old, rotted boardwalk back to the river where the two falls merged back together after dropping 20-30 feet in another great display. I clambered up the slope a ways and found the left falls dropping 30-40 feet thru a narrow gorge. All in all, one of the prettiest, varied and most interesting waterfalls I've seen.
08/06/03 Hiking Boulder River Trail (8 miles round trip):
Did chores yesterday and came up to WA-530 west of Darrington. Got some much needed rain last night. Looked like more rain most of the morning but we didn't get anymore.
The Boulder River Trail starts out at 1000 feet and goes to 2700 feet if you go all the way to Tupso Pass. The trial is through a rain forest with lots of moss on the rocks and trees and lots of ferns to soak your boots and pants after a rain. 1 mile into the hike is Boulder Falls. It's not on the river but two runoffs dropping 100's of feet down over granite cliffs. What makes these falls so attractive is the moss and fern filled rocks between the two runoffs.
After the falls, the trail is basically a nice walk through the woods. With all the other great hikes in the area, I would not go past the falls a second time without a good reason. The trail seems to end abruptly at a campsite along the river. Supposedly the trail picks up on the other side but I saw no indication of it. Of course I didn't attempt to cross the shallow river either.
08/08/03 Hiking Green Mountain Trail (8 miles round trip):
I was told about this hike by a guy I met on another trail. 3100 feet of elevation in 4 miles is a bit more than I've done before so I allocated the entire day to do it. The trail guide says 6 hours but that was probably written by a 16 year old who can go on forever and never notice how steep it was.
Partly sunny at 8am but clouding up. The GPS said 3580 feet. The first part of the trail is through forest with no underlying vegetation. Pine needles made for a nice soft walking surface the first mile up a fairly easy incline. Then you burst out into the open at the first meadow at about 4500 feet. I always thought of a meadow being flat. Not this one, it's a steep slope.
Great views of Glacier Peak and other peaks and ridges appear and remain as switchbacks lead up through the meadow. At 5300 feet there's a drop of a couple hundred feet to two ponds. Then through some woods and the trail gets steeper as switchbacks take you up through a second meadow to the summit at 6550 feet.
Several large marmots scampered around while a pair of bald eagles soared high above awaiting the opportunity for breakfast. Near the end I came to the top of a ridge. As I climbed, a completely new set of mountain peaks and ridges appeared, reminding me immediately of the Mount Pilchuck trail over by Granite Falls.
The summit is a little farther on and still another set of peaks and ridges appear with Mount Baker in the background. I'm certainly glad that guy told me about this trail. The legs were a little wobbly but the effort was certainly worth it.